Not surprisingly, the ubiquitous combination of incentive auctions/D Block re-allocation/Public Safety Network has made its way into the proposed American Jobs Act. Somewhat surprisingly, the spectrum piece is not simply a reprint of the Hutchison/Rockefeller S.911 Bill or the Democratic House discussion draft. It’s not even a straight cut and paste from Reid’s Debt Ceiling/Deficit Reduction draft (Reid being the one who introduced the President's Bill) that gave the broadcasters conniptions but raised the revenue for debt reduction.

As Harold has been saying, a long-term solution to the "spectrum crisis" is going to involve a lot more than just throwing more spectrum at the wireless industry. We also need to look at smarter ways of using spectrum. In this, we're in accord with NTIA, which recently told the FCC that they both "should explore ways to create incentives for more efficient use of limited spectrum resources, such as dynamic or opportunistic frequency sharing arrangements in both licensed and unlicensed uses." We're on the record as supporting these kinds of approaches.

Spectrum policy shouldn't be dogmatic.

Everyone involved in the National Broadband Plan (with the possible exception of broadcasters) says we need more spectrum. Everyone from Chairman Genachowski to the Department of Justice and the NTIA all agree we need “more spectrum“ to meet increasing demand and avoid a “spectrum crisis.”

As Gigi pointed out at the FCC workshop last October, this should sound familiar to anyone who has listened to our national debate on the “energy crisis.” And, like the energy crisis, we need a long-term sustainable strategy.

Gigi is out in San Diego today making a whirlwind appearance on spectrum. In addition to stopping by the FCC's workshop on mobile broadband and mobile applications (and delivering this amazing testimony here), Gigi is stopping by the International CTIA Wireless Conference to do a panel. As is often the case with these panels, they had some discussion questions to focus the group on the key issues and guide the conversation. While I expect Gigi will blog later about what actually happened, the discussion questions I saw looked pretty good to me. So I thought "hey, why not give my answers and show everyone why CTIA never invites me to speak at their conferences."

So here goes.

It will be “extremely difficult, if not impossible” to free
up more spectrum to be used solely by wireless services, Public Knowledge
President and co-founder Gigi B. Sohn said in remarks prepared for an
Oct. 8 FCC panel on spectrum issues.

The problem, she said at the San Diego hearing, is that most of the
spectrum that would have value to industry is controlled by the Defense
Department and Federal Aviation Administration. It will “prove
politically difficult” to reallocate that spectrum, she added,
noting that today spectrum that was supposed to have been cleared by
government users from a 2003 auction still is “bogged down and
underutilized.”

Earlier this week, Art called attention to the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009, a bill introduced in Congress by Representatives Ed Markey and Anna Eshoo. The bill, which you can read here (PDF link), marks the latest front in the Net Neutrality battle--the ongoing fight to ensure that the Internet remains an open, nondiscriminatory platform. Seeing how this bill is likely to rekindle the Net Neutrality debate once Congress returns in September, we thought that a quick rundown of the text of the bill was in order.

BroadbandCensus.com
reports that The Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday approved

S. 649, the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act, which would give the NTIA
and FCC 180 days to present Congress with a complete inventory of the
radio frequencies that they manage from 300 Megahertz to 3.5 Gigahertz.

The key provision of the bill is a new Section 342 of the Communications
Act that would read:

After months of waiting, the Senate confirmed two key members of the Obama communications and technology team: new FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) director Larry Strickling (his official title is Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information). And not a moment too soon.

Here is what is facing the new leaders right now: NTIA (along with the Rural Utilities Service) is expected to issue its "Notice of Funds Availability" imminently for the $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus money, and that "NOFA" will include the rules for applying for the grants, as well as the conditions (like non-discrimination) with which a grantee much comply.

The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:

"We welcomed the news that the Senate this evening confirmed Larry Strickling to be the director of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

"The agency faces some challenging months ahead in setting the ground rules for, and then administering, a $4.7 billion telecommunications stimulus program that ranges from broadband mapping to creating demand for services to building networks. Larry's leadership will be welcomed as his agency takes on the monumental tasks before it."

The Senate Commerce Committee has announced confirmation hearings for Larry Strickling as head of NTIA and Aneesh Chopra for CTO. Hopefully, swift confirmation by the full Senate will follow.

I really can't stress too much how important it is to get the Administration up to full strength. Which is why the delay in confirmation for Genachowski, Adelstein, and Clyburn are is unfortunate. Everyone understands the time pressure to start spending stimulus money. But that hardly covers the damage of having the major telecom and IT elements of the Administration stuck in a holding pattern. I'm sitting here at the Free Press Changing Media Summit where everyone is debating the urgency of resolving dozens of critical issues -- from the issue du jour of saving newspapers to the insanely detailed problem of special access.